Adversity

A tree hemmed in by giants.
Requires tenacity to survive.

Times of adversity inevitably confront us all. We are denied influence, people will not listen to what we have to say, and we are restricted by circumstance. In this situation, followers of Tao must rely on their determination. Without that, they cannot emerge successfully from the danger.

During times of adversity, vision and determination decide the outcome. Mere doggedness never served anyone well. Observe carefully, and try to act. If you find yourself tested by the situation, take comfort in that fact that adversity frequently forces on to consolidate one’s resources. You can often emerge from adversity stronger than before. Don’t be overcome by fear. Take calculated risk if you must, or face danger if you have to. If your mind is focused to the utmost, you will triumph.

Without the difficulty of being hemmed in, the tree in the forest would not be forced to marshal its power to grow toward the light. It must truly bring forth all its inner strength to spread its branches. If it becomes grand, it is in part because of its suffering. Thus the times of adversity can be crucial to the development of one’s inner personality.

Deng Ming-Dao, 365 Tao

Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents
which in prosperous circumstances
would have lain dormant.

— Horace(Quintus Horatius Flaccus), Satires

Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are. — Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha

Adversity is the state
in which man most easily
becomes acquainted with himself,
being especially free of admirers then.

— Samuel Johnson

People are like stained – glass windows.
They sparkle and shine when the sun is out,
but when the darkness sets in,
there true beauty is revealed
only if there is a light from within.

— Elizabeth Kubler Ross

There is in every true woman’s heart a spark of heavenly fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity; but which kindles up, and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity. — Washington Irving, The Sketch Book, 1820

One source I was reading today suggested we must deal with adversity like an oyster deals with a grain of sand, and turn it into a pearl. Perhaps this works for the small irritants in life. Take those things that grate on your nerves, and see if you can coat them in something beautiful, eventually making lovely pearls from them.

But what of those larger problems, too big to turn into pearls? Well, how big is the problem, really?

If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you got a problem. Everything else is inconvenience. ~Robert Fulghum

I have a friend who broke her neck as a teen and spent months in bed. Nothing else seemed important during that time for me than supporting my friend, visiting her daily and keeping her spirits up. My own health has always been pretty good compared to that. Even in the worst of my mental health problems, I was loved and cared for. I’ve never been hungry for more than a day in my life. I have an artist friend whose home has burned down twice now. Watching her deal with it, I’ve learned possessions are not important, even those we have worked so hard to create. Her art still lives, even though every bit of it was destroyed, twice.

How big are your problems, really? Can’t most of them be turned into pearls?

Quotes on adversity